Mommybloggers: Donna, you have been in the creative field, specifically writing, pretty much from the time you were a child. Did you always know you wanted to write? How did you start out writing?

Donna: I began writing little plays in grade school and directed my friends in them during recess. I probably did this because I sucked at sports, so that was a lot more fun for me than sitting on the sidelines because I was the first person out in Dodgeball or something.

But writing was just one of the things I used to do for fun – and it’s always been the way I best expressed myself. I don’t think I consciously thought, “Oh, I’m going to grow up and be a writer.” But I guess it was a foregone conclusion for everyone else, beginning with my second grade teacher, who wrote in my autograph book that she hoped to see my plays on Broadway some day.

The turning point was in college, when I had an instructor who gave us a choice of multiple choice or essay questions on mid-terms. It didn’t take me long to realize that I could bullshit my way to an A with an essay way just by writing A LOT about what I did know while avoiding the topics I was fuzzy about. I concluded that writing would be an easy way to earn a living. (Ha ha.)

Mommybloggers: You also write for Dot Moms. Regarding motherhood, what issues do you find yourself drawn to write about?

Donna: That’s a good question. I’m one of their newer contributors and have not yet established a pattern. I started out just riffing about how it feels to be 10 or 20 years older than the other moms I meet, but that got kind of depressing and Julie at DotMoms wants the posts to be upbeat. So then I got into the whole sports mom thing (my daughter is a competitive gymnast), but that’s kind of a narrow topic.

The posts I’ve liked best have come out of random thoughts I’ve had while just going about my day – like the time I brought my daughter to a swimming party and discovered that no adults were actively watching the kids. Or how much I hate housework. Or what I think about when standing in the checkout line at the supermarket.

Mommybloggers: The term "mommyblogger". Empowering, or hand me a trash bin, the word makes me queasy?

Donna: I personally like the term and enjoy reading the blogs of people who see the humor in raising a family in the 21st century.

Mommybloggers: Tell us a little bit about where you grew up, and what you were like as a kid.

Donna: I was born in Los Angeles in 1956 and have lived in the San Fernando Valley (“America’s Suburb”) pretty much continuously since 1963.

I was something of a know-it-all and was miserable for most of my childhood because I hadn’t any friends. So by the time I was in high school, I was the geek of all geeks.

I think this is why I devote so much of my time to being my daughter’s social director, driving her from one after-school activity to another. (Less of that since she made her gymnastics team – now it’s mostly just driving her to the gym where she works out for 16 hours a week.)

Mommybloggers: You spent some time writing about music and interviewing musicians in the rock/pop industry. What is that like? Was it as wild as we imagine it would be?

Donna: I was a writer for “The Weekly Top 30,” a three-hour radio show that was syndicated nationally to 300 stations as well as on Armed Forces Radio. I went on to produce a show that was almost exactly like it, but with a different host and specifically for the RKO Radio Network.

It was my first full time job out of college. It wasn’t glamorous (our offices were above a Chinese restaurant in Canoga Park) and paid next to nothing, but had fabulous perks like free records and concert tickets, plus the opportunity to meet some very interesting people.

This was in the early 80’s, so I missed the truly wild times of the 1970’s. I’m not saying shit didn’t happen – but I hadn’t changed all that much from the geek I was in high school, so I wasn’t someone who got to see much of that side of it. I was also pretty naïve – there were guys who did try to hit on me during an interview and most of the time, I didn’t realize it until I thought about it later.

Mommybloggers: Give us some juicy tidbits about some people you interviewed! What would surprise us?

I’m wracking my brain trying to think of something “juicy” or surprising – but coming up blank. Part of the problem is that I got that job 25 years ago and a lot of the people I remember might not be remembered by anyone else. Besides, it’s all a little hazy to me, too!

Feel free to pick and choose from the following:

I mainly remember snippets – that Ringo Starr, Gladys Knight and Bill Wyman were nice. That John Entwistle and Jermaine Jackson were shy and didn’t say much – until I’d the interview was over and the tape recorder was turned off, and that’s when they felt comfortable enough to talk. (What amazed me was that little ol’ geeky ME could make a big rock star nervous, just by the power of holding the mic).

The interview I did with Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue was unusable because they were sitting on a leather couch – so the friction of every movement they made with their leather pants caused an audible squeak on the tape (remember, this was for radio).

The session with the band War (“Lowrider,” “The Cisco Kid”) started out badly. They had been drinking wine all day and by the time I made it to my late afternoon appointment, they were plastered. Their manager was passed out on the couch and their publicist had to back out of the room to avoid having them grab her butt – which scared me because that left me alone with them. But they managed to get their act together well enough to answer my interview questions.

I remember being angry with Stevie Nicks for keeping me waiting 60 minutes after work for a phone interview – but when she finally did call, she was so charming I couldn’t stay mad at her. And I pissed off Lindsey Buckingham (not the same interview) when I made a remark about the Kingston Trio which I’d hoped would be funny but didn’t come out that way (he was a big fan of the folk group – which I knew – and didn’t appreciate what I’d said). That interview went all downhill from there.

Mommybloggers: Okay, thank you for indulging us. We're done now. we promise.
You worked as a writer's assistant on the "Tonight Show". How did you get into television?

Donna: Production jobs are not advertised – producers like to staff their shows with people they know. You find out about job openings through word of mouth – you need to have a network in place.

I did not have that, so after the radio job ended, I signed up with a temp agency that advertised in the back pages of Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. They sent me to studios and production companies and I gradually built up a resume (which included stints on pilots as well as a two-week gig as production assistant on a Playboy home video) and a network of friends – one of whom left her job as writers’ assistant on the Tonight Show to take a gig as production coordinator on a new show called “Roseanne.” She recommended me to the head writer for her job, and I was hired on her word. Oh yeah – they did ask me to come in first and take a “typing test” (I was given something to type and after the first paragraph, they said “Yeah, you can type.” No verification to see how accurate or how many words per minute.)

Mommybloggers: How has the television Sit-com industry changed in the last few years?

Donna: I would not know. My last sitcom job was in 1991. I think the biggest change in television production is the consolidation of our mass media. The networks have all been swallowed up by large media conglomerates, which also own studios. So they purchase almost everything in-house. Small production companies could not survive in this environment, and that’s led to an even bigger lack of diversity than the one that existed when I was in the business. This makes it all the more difficult to get something new or different on the air.

Mommybloggers: With all this reality television, will there be a sit-com comeback?

Donna: Television is cyclical – always has been. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone said that hour-long TV drama was dead. Then came CSI, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy… Dramas are hot.

The same thing happened a few years ago with game shows. “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” was a hit on ABC. So NBC brought “The Weakest Link” on the air. And then ABC overscheduled “Millionaire” so that the public got sick of it and now you don’t see so many game shows in prime time.

And I personally think that “reality” television has started a decline. The networks still love them because they are cheaper to produce than scripted shows. But the ratings have been diminishing. And when the WGA succeeds in covering reality shows in their contract (because, believe it or not, there’s not all that much “reality” in them – there are people behind the scenes who manipulate the situation and might qualify as “writers” and are probably ticked off that they are not paid as much as they could be), the costs will go up.

Don’t forget that sitcoms were declared dead in the early 80’s, too. Then a little program called The Cosby Show became a sensation. And its popularity boosted all the other shows on NBC’s Thursday night lineup: Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, Hill Street Blues. Must See TV was born.

I think it will happen again. Keep your eye on My Name is Earl and Scrubs. The Office is the first American translation of a British show that’s gotten it right since All in the Family. I’ve got my fingers crossed that someone at some network will pick up Arrested Development from Fox.

Mommybloggers: It seems like we are starved for good TV but the best shows seem to get cancelled.

Donna: It’s always been this way. While no one deliberately sets out to make a piece of shit show, the system ensures that 90% of what actually gets on the air is crap. It’s a little miracle when something good makes it on the air. It takes about six episodes before the production staff and the cast and crew all gel – and these days, if the show isn’t an immediate hit, networks will cancel them by about the sixth episode. And if what they are doing is even a little bit different, the audience might have some trouble “getting” it. I’m always amazed and gratified when something good gets picked up for a second season.

Mommybloggers: Have audiences been "dumbed down?"

One of my favorite quotes: Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. H.L. Mencken said it in the 1920’s.

There was a lot of dumb TV when I was a kid in the 1960’s. Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett, My Three Sons, Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie, The Brady Bunch. I mean, we all look at that stuff with the nostalgia of something we loved when we were kids, but have you watched these shows lately? They are not exactly challenging.

Mommybloggers: How do you see the demand for good television transforming? What do you think audiences really want? What kind of market is developing out there?

Donna: Another of my favorite quotes, from screenwriter William Goldman (best known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid): Nobody Knows Anything. It’s why the networks market test everything to death and why shows that tested badly become breakout hits and vice versa.

Mommybloggers: Do you want to take another crack at it? You have written that after the age of 35, you kind of have to hang up your dreams of writing for television. Is that REALLY true? It surely USED to be true, but seeing as 50 is the new 30…… Anything up your sleeve in that industry?

Donna: I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it, especially as it’s the only thing I ever wanted to do and since leaving, I’ve had a hard time figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. But even if there were opportunities for people my age (and yes, it is REALLY true – in Hollywood, 50 is the same as being 80), the nature of the business would prevent me from going for them. I don’t WANT to put in 80-hour weeks any more, or deal with the monomaniacal crazies who tend to be your boss. There’s a very good reason so many Hollywood marriages don’t last – it’s not a family friendly business. And I love my family too much to try to make a “comeback.”

Mommybloggers: Donna, your passion for writing is evident in the essays you write on your blog and on Dotmoms. It seems you were born to write. What lies ahead for you?

Donna: Well, this week I am being featured in Mommybloggers. Beyond that – who knows?

Mommybloggers: And here are the questions we subject all of our featured bloggers to (With apologies to Bernard Pivot and Inside the Actors Studio):

1. What is your favorite parent related word? right now? a.
Poop. Because that word never fails to make my daughter laugh.

2. What is your least favorite parent related word?
Disciplinarian. Because that role isn’t any fun.

3. What is your favorite creative censored curse word used around children?
Fudge. Not all that creative, but easy.

4. What is your favorite hiding place within your home when you need to get away from it all? c.
My house is too small. There’s no place to hide.

5. What hiding place have you been found in too often and can no longer use? d.
See above.

6. If Oprah exists, what would you like to hear her say when you arrive at the Oprah Winfrey show when she features the Mommybloggers? e.
I’m afraid I will be such a nervous wreck that I won’t hear a word that comes out of her mouth.